C-Section awareness month

I don’t get all caught up in the “this is ____ month” like national scrapbooking your pet month or something. This is apparently national c-section awareness month and although I don’t know what one should do to mark this occassion I did think I would post a little something. I realize that this is not exactly under my blog name of “fun” or “creative” in the typical sense but it’s my blog and I can do what I want.

Both of my children were born by C-Section and there wasn’t a lot of choice, particularly the first. The first did not make it far enough. They prepared me for the possibility of a C-section while in the birth class we took. I don’t remember exactly but there was something about 6 of us in this room will likely have a c-section birth. I talked to my good friend who had her baby by C-section almost a month earlier. I was mentally prepared either way. I didn’t think I would have one but that’s the way it went. I stayed in the hospital longer as is warranted from a surgical birth. It took me awhile to be able to get up and walk without pain killers. It seemed slow going and I needed a lot of help doing basic things for awhile. Thinking about it later I didn’t feel bad that I didn’t have a natural birth because that’s the way it went. I had to have pitocin and magnesium sulfate and then an epidural and then the C-section. It was all medical all the way and that was ok in the end because I had a healthy and happy 9 pound 2 oz. baby. Most people don’t get something so nice from surgery no?

The second time I had the option of trying for a “regular” birth or what is termed a “VBAC” in the medical lingo. I would have to have selected a different doctor or facility because the office I was going to did not “do them” for women who had to have one after the baby didn’t descend far enough I guess. I thought about looking into another doctor who would “do a VBAC” however the more I thought about it the more I liked the idea of having another one (C-section and baby). Maybe “like” isn’t the right word but I was comfortable with having another C-section since I knew how it worked, the birth would be scheduled on the calendar and I wouldn’t go through labor. So that’s what I thought would happen and it ended up being some labor, rushing around, and my doctor was out of town. The hospital wasn’t busy at all but you couldn’t get me in the operating room quick enough and the anesthesiologist wouldn’t give me anything beforehand. Things went super-quick and the recovery was easier, quicker and I felt fine. No regrets and healthy happy babies.

The C-section rate is really high. I have seen it at 35 percent of all women. I know that they are done for a variety of reasons and also that some hospitals and doctors don’t do VBACS at all and there’s liablility in case something doesn’t go well. I think it’s good to be prepared either way for a C-section and not feel it’s unnatural or wrong. If I were in the pioneer times I said that I wouldn’t have survived. The thing is that I don’t live in that time period and children and mothers are often saved by medical births everyday. Can’t argue with that.